My husband, the teacher that he is, has organized quite a summer school program for our nearly-3rd-grader and nearly-1st-grader. This year they are studying ancient history with them and are beginning at the Beginning.A few weeks ago we read Genesis 5 together and made a chart of the lifespans of Adam's descendents through Noah. We charted when they were born, when they had their children, and when they died. If you've never done this before, I highly recommend it. There are several amazing things you can learn, for example, that Mesuthelah likely died in the Flood (I wonder how long he would have lived if he had been righteous), and that Noah began building the ark about 50 years before his sons were born. Building the ark was clearly a family activity, and his son's wives must have known what they were getting themselves into!
But my husband noticed one detail that had passed me by. Enoch "was not because the Lord took him" (Genesis 5:24) only about 5 years after Adam died. Now, imagine living in the Antediluvian world, and the shock you would feel when the First Man actually died. Here the king of the human race, the Man who came from God Himself has died. Murder had occurred already, but nobody had yet gotten old and died from the Curse.
Now almost immediately following Adam's death, God reaches down and spares Enoch from the curse. Here is a reminder to the world that Death does not have the final say. Even at the realization of their own mortality, God reminded the Antediluvian world that He is still master over Death and the Curse will be undone.
